Polls and rankings regarding the best for anything related to beer are never perfect for everyone, but they are usually entertaining and it is interesting to see the results. On an annual basis, the RateBeer administrators pour through ratings of beers and places and put together their RateBeer Best awards, which they bill as “The World’s Largest Beer Competition” since it uses data from over 2.47 million reviews. Yes, RateBeer ratings are biased towards certain styles and often certain areas of the country/world where there is a strong user presence, and this shows in the results. So, view these results as what they are: a reflection of RateBeer users and not a definitive ranking of what is really the best out there. But, like I said, it is still interesting and there are some great places and beers in the rankings. Just take it all with a grain of salt…
Below are links to their rankings, as well as some thoughts and call-outs for WA/OR businesses. You can read more about how they compile the ranking here.
Top 100 Beers in the World
The most ridiculous thing to note is that 17 of their top 20 beers of 2010 are Imperial Stouts. That is a direct reflection of the RateBeer users’ belief that beers with huge flavor profiles, regardless of how good they really are, should get higher scores. Somebody better tell Will Kemper at Chuckanut that he needs to make an Imperial Stout in order to really be successful…
Washington has no beers in the top 100. Oregon has six: Deschutes The Abyss (#18), Hair of the Dog Matt (#27), Hair of the Dog Adam (#47), Hair of the Dog Fred From the Wood (#72), Deschutes Black Butte XXI (#78), and Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws (#94).
Top 100 Breweries in the World
Elysian is the lone Washington brewery on the list coming in at #91. For Oregon, Hair of the Dog comes in at #14, Deschutes at #21, Rogue at #39, and Pelican at #66.
Top 50 Beer Bars in the World
Seattle had a good showing in this category, but a couple of Portland spots got the shaft. In Seattle, Brouwer’s Cafe came in at #7, Uber Tavern at #8, Beveridge Place Pub at #39, and Naked City Taphouse at #42. Special congrats to the guys at Naked City for making the list after just one year in business. Concordia Ale House was the only Portland beer bar to crack the top 50, leaving out the Horse Brass, Bailey’s, and others.
Top 50 Brewpubs in the World
Walking Man Brewing made the list for Washington at #15, and Oregon was represented by Pelican at #24, Cascade Brewing/Raccoon Lodge at #44, and the Deschutes Portland Public House at #48.
Top 50 Beer Retailers in the World
In Washington, Bottleworks ranks at #11 and Malt and Vine ranks at #14. In Oregon, The Bier Stein in Eugene ranks at #22 and Belmont Station ranks at #47. There are many great Seattle/Portland retailers left off of that list.
Top 50 Restaurants for Beer in the World
Not a single restaurant from Washington or Oregon made this list. That just ain’t right, especially when you’ve got places like Resi’s Bierstube in Chicago and the freaking Yard House in Phoenix on the list, both of which I’ve been to and can say they are nothing special. The most glaring omission to me is Higgins in Portland. Other places, such as Collins Pub, Brouwer’s, and Quinn’s, are categorized only as bars in the RateBeer database and don’t qualify for this category, despite having great food. Like I pointed out before though, I have to keep reminding myself that these rankings don’t really reflect real life, just the world of RateBeer.
Top 50 Breweries to Visit in the World
For Washington, Maritime Pacific’s old Jolly Roger Taproom made the list at #45, which is funny since it should probably be classified as a brewpub. For Oregon, Hair of the Dog made the list at #2, Hopworks is at #25 (brewpub?), Widmer is at #28, Bridgeport at #29, Rogue Newport at #34, and Full Sail at #42.
the list of best beers is actually pretty depressing, it just shows how far we still need to go as a beer loving culture, beers do not need to be ‘extreme’ to be notable
Now, I’ve only had this beer once and it was Absolutely Deserving of being high on the Best Beers list, BUT, don’t you think they could of picked just ONE version of Dark Lord? Three are in the top 7, (2 in top 5). Am I nitpicking? Great list, all in all.
You are absolutely correct, Pat. When it comes down to it though, the RateBeer system is just far from perfect.
I’ve wondered why on RB and BA I see so many highly rated imperial stouts. An example is Deschutes The Abyss, I had this on tap and maybe I am a weenie but I struggled to finish the glass… the taste was too overpowering.
Trav – You are a weenie.
Just joking, I don’t even know you.
I think it’s just an American thing. We like to take things and just make them bigger, bolder, louder, crazier, more over the top, more explosive, etc until you need a seat belt to drink some of these brews.
Just checked out the 50 best brewery list, looks like it was a popularity contest: not much to see at ballast point (unless you need homebrew supplies) or pizza port, where was stone (unless I missed it) that place rocks, having bridgeport (gentrified, much better above 5 years ago) above full sail (best view from a bar ever, great tour) seems ridiculous, anchor should be 2, behind somewhere in belgium
I was fairly recently at Resi’ Beirstube on Irving Park in Chicago, November to be exact, and you must be kidding me. People go there for the German food. It’s good food but not exceptional, though you get alot. The truly shocking thing is they’ve only got about 7 or 8 German beers on Draught and that’s it!!! The beers are very good, but not unique and the depth is underwhelming, but then what should you expect from just a neighborhood spot that’s tired but been around for years. Ranking Resi’s in the top 5000 Beer restaurants would be much more accurate, not top 50 by any measure. The Beirstube in Seattle has a much deeper and considerably more interesting list of German offerings. Rankng Resi’s as the better Beirstube Says an awful lot about the Knuckelheaded No Nothings that built this listing!!!!!!!
Hopworks is a relatively new brewpub in southeast Portland (SE Powell Blvd, around 30th I think). They have all-organic brews, good food that is mostly (all?) organic, kid-friendly restaurant area, ok service. Nice building.
Any rating that omits Boundary Bay from the list has not done their homework. I have traveled the country tasting beers of all kinds and you will not find better beer than in Bellingham. I am insulted.
Casc-accol-ade Brewing // Feb 3, 2010 at 9:43 am
[…] in the world by RateBeer.com (See other breweries’ Northwest’s RateBeer accolades on a post here by Geoff Kaiser of Seattle Beer News). Further, nationally circulated Draft Magazine named Cascade’s Vlad the Impaler as one of […]
The best brews in town are here
http://www.bjsrestaurants.com/locations.aspx?qst=wa
now lets make a list of the best beers a person can actually find at a regular grocery store
Dav,
Totally agree with you, can’t believe it wouldn’t be considered. Especially since it would fit into a few of those categories, great beer, food and setting for a brewpub. Though, I would say they don’t have great distribution and this may be the case for a lot of quality beers that aren’t making the list.